How well aligns Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 with the United Nations agenda for sustainable development?

Saudi Arabia's great Vision 2030 is arguably well aligned with the 17 goals of the United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable development. It demonstrates that Saudi Arabia's leadership looks into the right direction and applies a systematic framework to plan, monitor and cross check its progress.

Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 incorporates well many of those 17 Sustainability goals to drive forward key initiatives to drive a remarkable transformation effort across its country for its citizen's and overall regional future.

Major topics of the 2030 Vision embrace numerous or all of those Sustainability goals.

Example of Sustainable Alignment for the Housing market

Below shows how, for example, the grand housing program of Saudi's 2030 vision applies/ leverages many of those Sustainability Development Goals (SDG) directly (highlighted in green) and also indirectly (highlighted in yellow).

Different cities across Saudi Arabia work from their specific situation and then determine the most appropriate initiatives in line with Vision 2030 and the United Nations Sustainability goals.

Ministry of Economy and Planning (MEP) carries a key role

Saudi Arabia's commitment in 2015 was put into action by Royal Order that mandated the Ministry of Economy and Planning (MEP) to oversee implementation and monitoring.

The MEP plays several key roles: a) analyze the alignment of Vision 2030 vs Sustainability goals consistency b) identify/ monitor respectfully the actual alignment of national programs, strategies and executing agencies. c) harmonize the regional and sectorial plans across relevant authorities. d) promote the private sector role related to Sustainability.

The effort is highly complex and labor intensive

The effort is huge and complex: Must align all strategies, (sub) national plans and programs to Sustainability Development goals, targets and indicators. Must oversee localization and proper application. Must coordiate many stakeholders across the different public, private and non-profit sectors. Must design/ implement practical tools, delegate responsibilities, ensure accountability, facilitate/ measure /record/ report progress.

Additional complexity: The situations across cities & regions are different. Key cities favor their own approaches such as Goals & Targets, Thematic Areas, Hybrid and other. In the Goals & Target Approach, cities address their own priority objectives and leverage targets & indicators from the Sustainability goals. In the Thematic Areas Aproach, favored by most cities, the focus is on key themes that will include specific Sustainability goals, which then are used explicity or implicitly.

Many tasks are necessary and ongoing:

Diligent work brings many advantages

Outlook

Critics may say that the Vision 2030 incorporates only few new ideas in addition to Saudi Arabia's previous Five Year plans. However, the efforts in the Vision 2030 show notable diligence, systematic thinking and alignment with global programs such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Yes, the effort of Vision 2030 is huge, unprecedented and therefore tremendously challenging. But with the strong commitment & leadership of his Excellency Muhammad Bin Salman and application of international best practices (adapted to local culture and Muslim values), Saudi Arabia can achieve great successes with its Vision 2030.

If you work in Real Estate, Infrastructure or Construction as leader, engineer, program manager, functional expert, consultant, government advisor and/ or supplier, reach out to Alex Steinberg through WhatsApp at +966531824178 or email at alexwsteinberg@hotmail.com